The Fifth Sunday after Easter

May 06, 2007

“May the Stories of Our Lives Tell of the One We Love!”

John 13:31-35

Preached at Providence Lutheran Church in Holland, O.

By Pastor Dennis R. King

The Grace and Mercy of the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you all.

I still remember an event that happened in my life several years ago. I had gone fishing in Tampa Bay with one my oldest daughter then about five years old. As usual all the big fish avoided my line. However we did enjoy studying the rock fish that I caught. I remember tell Cory that God was a creative God and this was just one colorful example of God’s creativity. We laughed too about God’s sense of humor, that of all the fish in the ocean we should be so lucky to catch a rock fish. Upon returning home everyone wanted to know how we did. Before I had an opportunity to respond to the question, my fishing companion responded by saying, “We caught a story!”

“We caught a story!” Our lives are full of stories. Those stories tell others something about us, our abilities, and the ones we love. And if we love God then our life stories glorify Him. Jesus speaks of glorifying God and of Himself being glorified, of going on a mission that will glorify and of giving a command that will glorify His Father.

Verses 31 and 32 of our text read, “When He had gone out, Jesus said; ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God will also glorify Him in Himself and will glorify Him at once’.” From the very beginning of His life Jesus gave glory to God. His life is full of stories about His healing, and ministering in His Father’s name that glory and honor might be given not to Himself but to the One who sent Him. Earlier in the Gospel of John, Jesus said. “And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

In Jesus, God has been glorified. It was the obedience of Jesus that brought glory to God. Just as a child brings glory to his parents when he is obedient to them, so Jesus gave a supreme glory to God. He gave to God the supreme obedience, the obedience that obeyed His Father’s will all the way to the cross.

Had Jesus not come down to earth and suffered with people and revealed Himself to people on the cross, had God not sent His Son, had God remained aloof and majestic, serene and unmoved, untouched by any sorrow and unhurt by any pain, people might have feared God, and people might have admired God, but people would never have loved God. Many people today fear and admire God but do not love Him. Only through Jesus Christ can people come to know God and love Him.

God is glorified by the great sacrifice of Jesus. Those who make the greatest sacrifices have the greatest glory. Humankind soon forgets the successful individual, but human kind seldom forgets the sacrificial person. So it is with Jesus. The cross became His glory. The crown of thorns became His crown of glory.

Jesus speaks in our text of going on that mission that leads to glorifying His Father. He says in verse 33, “Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’.” Here Jesus reveals to the eleven that His glorification entails the removal of His visible presence from them. He is preparing the eleven for His death. Through His death He wins the victory over the power of death for all those who follow Him. Then He will be raised to eternal glory at the right hand of God to prepare a place for the faithful. The expression, “I am with you only a little longer,” suggests the shortness of time before this glory, God’s salvation, would come into being.

Jesus is concerned about His disciples and about us. He wants to assure all of us that He has not forsaken us just because we cannot see Him. Jesus refers to the disciples as “little children.” He uses this expression to show His affection yet He recognizes the immaturity of those who are so dear to Him. We, like the disciples, are still only “Little Children” in faith and not yet the men and women that god has called us to become. There is much in God’s Word for His Spirit to reveal to us and for us to learn and tell. Jesus admonishes us to be like children always eager to trust, to learn, and to grow in God’s Word which comes to full glory in Him.

Jesus did not want any of His disciples to grieve for Him or to seek after His physical presence. Instead, Jesus had other plans for His disciples and us. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. While Jesus is gone from them, the disciples still have each other and thus ought to be more closely attached to each other, loving each other as Jesus loved them while He was still in their midst. So to you and I, as the body of believers, should love one another. Like a chain reaction we are to love one another as Christ loves us, the same love, there is to be No difference. Our love is to be self-less, Our one desire should be to five ourselves and all we have for those we love. Our love toward one another is to be sacrificial. There should be no limit to what our love would give and to where our love would go. Our love should be full of understanding. We should love one another in spite of our weaknesses. Real love is open-eyed and loves the whole person not just part.

One evening Jan and I sat at a Bob Evans when I look across the room to see a grandmother and what appeared to a daughter and grandchild. I was somewhat draw to them and I think God was trying to teach me a lesson. Because this grandmother was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. It was hard to look at her because she was so ugly and yet I was drawn to her. She could have won the wicked witch of the west contest very easily. Then I noticed that they were getting ready to leave and as they got up to leave this young child gave this ugly woman a huge hug and kiss right on the lips. The thought of such an act made me shudder but than God seemed to speak to me about how true love overcomes all walls and barriers we set up. The love of a grandchild over looks so much to express to her grandmother her love for her. I learned something that day about love. It truly does overcome everything.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book Life Together says, “I do not know in advance what love of another means on the basis of the general idea of love that grows out of our human desires. What love is, only Christ tells in His Word. Therefore, spiritual love is bound solely to the Word of Jesus Christ. Where Christ bids me to maintain fellowship for the sake of love, I will maintain it.”

Martin Luther in his book Faith Active in Love says “The Christian life is indeed a life of faith and love, but faith is the Christian’s attitude toward God and love is the Christian’s attitude toward his neighbor which follows from faith. Faith in God through Christ is necessary for love of another person, and it is therefore the source of all ethics.

Christianity believes it is literally true that in the words of the popular song, “You’re nobody till somebody loves you!” And the Good News is that Jesus is that somebody who loves you and me. Because of His love you can now love someone else so that they too can become somebody. I Peter 2:10, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.” Jesus loves us and gives us the ability to love others.

So the faithful never graduate from the school of Christianity. Instead, one needs to carry on an in-service program as long as one lives, loving one another and thus glorifying both Jesus and His Father. Verse 35 of our text reads “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Jesus was going to leave His disciples, and He knew that the prince of this world was on the move. In fact, the Lord said that Satan would seek to scatter the sheep. And so, in the face of this kind of opposition Jesus said the mark of true loyalty, of true discipleship after He had gone and the Holy Spirit had come, would be that His followers love one another and thus glorify Him and His Father.

Remember the words of I John 4:20, “If a man says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen.”

We fall short of this command of Jesus when we judge our fellow Christian. The people of the world judge us harshly when they see us fall short of this command as well for even they know we are to love one another. Loving one another is demonstrated by Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul continues to encourage us to love one another more and more that Christ might be glorified bringing glory and honor to God, the Father.

Jesus speaks of glorifying God and of Himself being glorified, of going on a mission that will glorify and of giving a command that will glorify His Father. May the stories of our lives tell of the One we love the most. May our hearts, souls, and minds be directed toward Him. May we give glory to His mission by sharing it with others, In truly loving one another may we glorify our Good and Gracious God. Amen.